Chapter 1: Next of Kin
IMPERIAL SHOCK TROOPS DESERT COMMAND, BADLANDS, 1100 HOURS
Inside a heavily fortified bunker containing a dozen battle tanks and several dozen racks full of rifles, crossbows, gunstaffs, and other kinds of weapons; a platoon that consisted of fifty pony soldiers wearing yellow knight armor on top of white WW2-style uniforms were standing near the main entrance, in front of two tanks (one of them covered in a green camouflage net). When a pegasus stallion with a black coat, white mane, and wore more armor than the others entered the bunker; they all saluted and waited for him to reach them. From the alicorn and solar shield emblem rank engraved on his armor, it was clear that he held the rank of Colonel and the name that was engraved just under the emblem read, "Thunderlane".
He eventually reached right in front of the platoon before turning his attention towards the soldiers, saluting them back, and announcing with a commanding tone, "At ease."
Right after the platoon did as he ordered, he began to explain, "For twenty five years, we shock troopers have been the Solar Empire's sword and shield. We've pushed back Queen Chrysalis and stopped the advance of the Lunar Republic. Yet, none of our victories came without cost. Recently, Major General Rarity was honorably discharged. Her wounds, both physical and psychological, left her no longer fit to serve."
This caused a younger white unicorn mare, who had a grayish mulberry mane with pale light grayish rose streaks to look down in sorrow as the colonel continued, "We honor Sweetie Belle's sister, and we honor her sacrifice, by doing what she would do. Tirelessly defend the empire. First Lieutenant Rumble, step forward."
In response, a younger pegasus stallion with a grey coat and a black mane took a few steps forward and the general promptly declared, "Your leadership and warfighting ability have earned you the promotion to Captain. With that said, there are absolutely no family favors here. By Solar Empire tradition, you still have to pass one last test."
A smirk appeared on Rumble's face as he said, "I have to kick the C.O.'s flank, sir. Your flank, sir."
Thunderlane then smirked back before saying, "Alright, then, lieutenant. Let's see if you can take me."
Taking fighting stances and the two pegasi started circling each other, after several seconds of anticipation, both stallions flew straight upwards, throwing several fierce punches and kicks at one other with their hooves. Rumble, due to his youth and lighter armor, was mostly dodging his brother's attacks and delivering much faster hits; while Thunderlane, because of his age and heavier armor, was doing the opposite; blocking his brother's attacks and delivering slower hits.
However, Rumble soon realized that neither one of them was going to make much progress with this attack pattern and so, he decided to change tactics. He quickly flew on top of Colonel Thunderlane and delivered a swift kick to his right wing (which was exposed), nearly breaking it and causing his elder brother to stagger in the air for a bit. Sensing the right opportunity, he punched the black pegasus in the face before delivering another swift kick to his other wing. Causing the older pegasus to completely lose his balance and plummeted face first to the solid ground. Even though he attempted to fly back up, Rumble speedily dive-bombed towards him, strongly punching his brother in the face once again, prompting him to fall to the ground a second time and lie there for several seconds while groaning in pain.
Rumble then landed right in front of him, gave him a salute, and happily exclaimed, "Captain Rumble, reporting for duty!"
A big smile appeared on Thunderlane's face and after getting back on his hooves with Rumble's assistance, he saluted his brother back and said, "Congratulations, Captain. You've made us all proud."
Immediately afterwards, the entire platoon started cheering loudly. Rumble turned back towards them and passionately lifted his right hoof up in the air, which caused his fellow soldiers to cheer even louder than before. When half a minute went by, all sounds of excitement and admirations for the young grey pegasus finally died down. Rumble cleared his throat and declared, "Well... Ummm... I'm usually terrible at giving speeches. Sooo... Thank you for everything you've done this year, safe travels on your way to your homes and families, and Happy Hearth's Warming. Dismissed."
The soldiers saluted him and after he saluted them back, all of them headed towards a set of meal double doors at the other end of the bunker, which was leading back to their barracks. All of them, except for Sweetie Belle and two older mares. One of them was a green coated unicorn who had a pale cyan mane with white highlights, while the other was a pale persian blue coated pegasus with a pale cerulean mane with white highlights.
Once everypony else was out of the room, Rumble and Sweetie Belle rushed towards each other, and once they were close enough, they hugged each other tightly and Rumble even spun Sweetie Belle in the air a few times while both of them were laughing with pure joy.
Then, after Rumble stopped spinning and let go of Sweetie Belle, she happily exclaimed, "I knew you could do it!"
"Really, now?", Rumble teasingly asked. "Then, who was that annoying mare who forced me to spend twelve hours in the training area each day for an entire week, while also constantly throwing insults at me?"
"Oh, don't be such a baby!", replied Sweetie. "We both know that I did all this so that you could get this promotion. You've been talking about getting it for so long, that I had to make sure you got it and finally shut up."
Rumble could not help but chuckle at that statement and then declared, "You're right. Thanks so much for your help, Sweets. I don't know what I would've done without you."
"Well, let's see...", Sweetie began. "You would've won the promotion in five minutes instead of just one if I hadn't given you extra training, you would've been six feet under if I hadn't pulled you away from gunfire and grenades in nearly a dozen battles, and you would've flunked out of high-school if I hadn't helped you out with your-"
Rumble quickly covered her mouth with his left hoof right before she could finish that sentence, unfortunately for the young stallion it still got giggles out of the two mares standing beside him. Then, the pegasus mare commented, "Wow, Rumble! It seems you and Sweetie Belle go way back. Kinda weird you two haven't become an item yet."
"Yeah, I've been wondering that myself for a while now", the unicorn added. "I mean, my girlfriend and I met during our freshman year in high-school and we started dating the very next year. In fact, I'm actually planning on proposing to her during our Hearth's Warming party tonight."
The pale persian blue pegasus next to her gasped upon hearing that and exclaimed, "REALLY?! Oh, my Celestia! Congratulations, Lyra! You and Bon Bon are definitely gonna be the greatest couple ever. Have you thought about the date of the wedding yet?"
"Well, not exactly, Cloudchaser, but one thing's for sure, I do want it to happen right after the end of the war... whenever that may be", replied Lyra. "Which is why I'm gonna train extra hard just like Rumble did this week. I mean, you can never blow up too many republic scum, right? See you guys after the weekend."
She proceeded to stroke Rumble's mane a bit before heading to the door. Then, Cloudchaser announced, "Yeah, I gotta practice harder after the holidays too. My sniping skills could always use some sharpening. Happy Hearth's Warming, everypony. See y'all later."
Right after she began walking towards the door, as well, Thunderlane promptly galloped after her and upon catching up to her, asked, "Hey, Cloudchaser, wait up. Would like coming over to my place for dinner tonight. Don't worry, it won't be too crowded. There's only gonna be me, Rumble, our parents, and hopefully, you."
As he and Cloudchaser walked further away during their discussion, Rumble looked back at Sweetie Belle and noticed she was looking at the floor with a rather sad expression on her face. In fact, there was a small amount of tear around her eyes and she had even started sniffing.
This prompted Rumble to hold her chin up with his right hoof and ask, "You alright? Whatever's the matter? Still thinking about him?"
When he let go of her chin, she wiped away her tears with her own hooves and replied, "You know I'm never gonna stop thinking about him. It's been eating me on the inside ever since we enlisted and when Sergeant Lyra brought up her upcoming proposal- "
"I know", Rumble interjected. "It's okay. I'm sure she didn't mean any disrespect. Look, we may not have seen him for years, but if we do, I promise that I won't hesitate to shoot him for what he did to you."
Sweetie's eyes widened with shock upon hearing that before she said, "What?! No, Rumble, why would you say something like that?! He was your best friend."
"Yeah, but the keyword here is 'was'. We may have been buddies during high-school, but he basically threw away our friendship and trust the moment he joined the Lunar Republic. He broke both your heart and mine. For that, he deserves no forgiveness from either of us. Wouldn't you agree?", Rumble said with a resentful tone.
Hearing this caused Sweetie Belle to turn away from the gray stallion and look back at the ground with uneasiness and confusion, the young mare started to think hard on what Rumble had just said. After several seconds of pondering. She took a deep breath, before looking back at Rumble, "I agree that we can't forgive him, but that doesn't mean he deserves to die. I say, if we ever come across him in a future battle, we'll capture him and then put him in a prison cell for the rest of his life, so that he may feel as much pain as we did. Sounds good?", said the young unicorn.
Rumble took a few moments to think about this plan and he eventually nodded before stating, "Yeah... Yeah, that actually sounds much better."
Sweetie, then sniffed one more time and wiped away a few more drops of tear from her eyes before hugging Rumble, who promptly returned the hug and even stroked her mane a bit. Right after that, however, they were jolted by the sound of the metal doors to the barracks being opened with immense force and Colonel Thunderlane flying towards them with a shotgun-type gunstaff in his fore hooves.
"RUMBLE! SWEETIE BELLE!", he started shouting. "GEAR UP! WE'RE MOVING OUT IN TEN!"
"What? What's wrong?", Rumble asked.
Thunderlane, landed right beside them and replied, "Our scout radios have just picked up a transmission coming from Everfree Forest. It sounds like an acoustical beacon. It repeats at intervals of twelve seconds."
"A distress signal? From somewhere in the Everfree Forest?", Sweetie asked. "With all due respect, Colonel, but can't you see the obvious red flags this situation is raising? The republic soldiers are laying a trap for us and they're using the signal to lure us in."
"Which is why we're gearing up", Thunderlane promptly replied. "As I'm sure we're all aware, failure to respond to any distress signal results in immediate court-martial and since this is clearly a trap, we're bringing heavy weapons with us to ambush the ambush. Now, let's quit talking and start moving."
"Is there no way we can relay the message to the troops stationed at Ponyville and let THEM handle this?", asked Rumble. "It would take us at least a few hours to reach Everfree and by then, it'll probably be nightfall before we get out of that Celestia-forsaken place."
"I've already contacted the Ponyville regiment and there was no answer", Thunderlane revealed. "We can't wait for them to respond. We gotta go there as quickly as possible, wipe out the republic presence in that territory of ours, and then figure out what happened to the regiment in Ponyville. So, both of you should gear up and meet me back here in five minutes. I won't give the same order a third time."
In response, Rumble and Sweetie saluted Thunderlane and upon him saluting them back, they both galloped towards the door leading to the barracks. Just before they opened it though, Rumble grabbed Sweetie by her left shoulder and whispered to her ear, "Remember what we talked about. If we see him there, we'll beat him up and take him as a prisoner of war. Or maybe, we'll shoot him by one of his legs before the capture."
Sweetie silently considered this plan for a few seconds and eventually, gave him a nod in approval. Right after Rumble nodded back, they opened the doors at the same time and quickly went through it.
LOS PEGASUS OUTSKIRTS, 1200 HOURS
A Lunar Republican all-terrain vehicle known as a Black Puma was riding along a large field covered in tall grass. The mana powered four wheeled topless vehicle's occupants included a driver wearing a standard issue combat helmet with the metal face mask down, a brown coated Earth Pony with a two-tone orange mane, and another Earth Pony who had a pinto coat, white with grayish brown spots, his mane was dark tangelo with lighter streaks. All three of them were wearing black knight armor on top of blue WW2-style uniforms and none of them had spoken a word for the entire journey. From the appearance of the big gray clouds hanging above them, it seemed clear that it was going to rain soon.
While his companion was busy staring at the grassland and the surrounding mountains, the Earth Pony with the completely brown coat was staring at a golden earring on his right hoof. While doing so, he had a rather sad expression on his face. It was as though the earring belonged to somepony very close to him and he was remembering a moment he had shared with that somepony. With that said, the moment he was remembering at that very moment was definitely not a happy one.
Then, a short while later, the Black Puma abruptly stopped in front of a GT-88/b Bugbear, a multipurpose tilt rotor gunship/transport, and right beside it was a small campsite. Right after that, the Earth Pony returned to the present, put the golden earring in one of the pockets of his uniform, and got out of the vehicle along with his companion and their driver.
At the campsite was a group of three armored mares who were sitting around a campfire in front of their individual tents with different kinds of weapons in their hooves. One of them was a grayish blue pegasus, who looked very similar to Cloudchaser, a pegasus mare he once knew back at his former hometown of Ponyville with only one major difference being a black eyepatch covering her right eye, she was sharpening the edge of a particularly large combat knife with a gray sharpening stone. She was also wearing a pair of razor sharp wing blades along with a bandolier of various throwing knives. The other mare was a white unicorn with a cobalt blue mane with cyan stripes, who was wearing a pair of thick lens sniper goggles along with a pair of short-range radio headsets. She was busy reloading a LA50AT .50 caliber bolt-action anti-tank rifle. The last mare, who was sitting right between the others, was an Earth Pony who had a gray coat and a black mane. She was tinkering with a Flim & Flam Mark I/Type B laser bowgun that she took off from a dead imperial soldier.
Right after the occupants of the Black Puma stepped out of the vehicle, the mares stood up and walked towards their visitors while placing their weapons to their backs. Once both parties were only about a couple feet away from each other, the gray-coated Earth Pony announced to the driver, "You're late. You were supposed to bring these new recruits here over half an hour ago."
"My apologies, captain", the driver said with a distorted voice. "We ran into some trouble along the road. A few rebel cells ambushed us near the Ghastly Gorge, but we did force them to retreat. I'm happy to say that these new recruits can certainly hold their own in a fight."
This prompted the captain to take a good look at the soldiers before her before she declared, "Did they, now? Well, that's good to hear. We do need able fighters to help us do our job in the place we're gonna be heading soon. You're dismissed, sergeant. We'll take it from here."
The sergeant gave her a salute before going back inside of his vehicle and riding towards the way he had come from. Upon his departure, the captain turned her attention back to the remaining soldiers and asked, "Your names?"
Both ponies saluted her and the one with the completely brown coat announced, "First Lieutenant Button Mash reporting for duty, ma'am!"
Then, the other one exclaimed, "Second Lieutenant Pipsqueak reporting for duty, ma'am!"
"At ease!", the captain ordered. Once they followed that order, she began, "I am Captain Octavia Melody, leader of the Crescent Squad. This is our communication officer, Vinyl Scratch, and our pilot, Flitter. I'm sure you've heard the rumors about us, but let me give you some real information first. We're an elite team of war veterans, who take care of missions that other squads are either ill-equipped or too fearful to accomplish. We sneak into enemy territory, steal information vital to the defense of that territory, and thus, help the other soldiers take that territory without much trouble. We also sometimes search and extract a captured ally, who carries information too important to fall into enemy hooves. This particular mission you'll be accompanying us to is a similar one. The forward operating base has intercepted a transmission that sounds similar to a distress signal and it's coming from the Everfree Forest. Since it's obviously a trap, our orders are to go in heavily armed and eliminate any Solar Empire forces we may encounter. Then, we figure out a way to infiltrate the town of Ponyville. Any questions?"
The soldiers looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds before turning back toward their captain and shaking their heads. In response, she continued, "Very well. Let me give you a final bit of advice before we move out, then. You've been chosen to join this team, because you possess the necessary skills and a tendency to carry out every command without question. I have every confidence that you won't disappoint me during this mission and many more missions to come. However, should you fail to live up to my expectations more than once, you shall be severely punished before being immediately sent back to your original regiments. Do I make myself clear?!"
"YES, MA'AM!", the soldiers shouted in unison.
Octavia responded by giving them a determined smile and saying, "Very good. Let's go, then. We've wasted enough time already. Help us pack up, will you?"
They proceeded to do as they were ordered, assisting Vinyl with folding the tents while Octavia extinguished the campfire by pouring a cup of water. While Flitter got inside the pilot cabin of the Bugbear gunship. As she started the two engines, the rest of her team entered the vehicle and shortly afterwards, they took off and headed towards the location of their upcoming mission.